With a Little Help from My Friends Part 2 of Tara is missing
by SophieDevereauxtoo
Summary: This is a very short sequel to San Francisco. Sophie is worried about Tara so she asks Hardison to try and find her


On the flight from San Francisco to Boston, I write down everything I can remember. Fake IDs, car rentals, flight and hotel reservations and all I know about the original job. I don't add anything to do with me or my involvement in the caper. I look my list over and realize I really don't have much information at all. Hopefully Hardison can do something with what I have. Hopefully he'll be able to find Tara for me.

I am the first one into the office Monday morning. Nate stumbles down the stairs and looks at me. "What the hell are you doing here?" he grumbles. "Hi Nate. I love you too." He grunts at me and goes to the refrigerator to get some orange juice. "Rough night?" I ask. He grunts again. I know better than to push him. He's obviously hung over from the previous evening's activities. "Go shave Nate. I'll make some coffee." He finishes his juice and drops the glass into the sink. Another grunt and he heads back up the stairs.

I make a strong pot of coffee then sit down on the sofa with a cuppa to wait. Hardison finally wanders in about an hour later. Nate still hasn't re-emerged. I meet Hardison just as he's pulling the door closed behind him. "Sophie! I didn't see you there" he says as he runs into me. "You scared me." "Sorry" I tell him. I need your help.

Hardison looks at me curiously. I rarely ask for help with anything and he's surprised and more than a little confused. I follow him to the kitchen where he gets himself a bagel and an orange soda then I follow him back to the living room. "Sophie! What is it? Can't a guy get a little sustenance before work?" I shake my head. "No time." I push him towards his chair at the counter. "Ok Ok!" he mutters. "I get it. Ain't no leisure time for the IT guy. Everyone want's something and they want it now. Woman been stalking me all morning…" "Hardison" He looks at me. "Shut up". He shakes his head and mutters under his breath "Don't have to be so rude about it." I glare at him and he starts pushing buttons to fire up is computer.

I hand him the list I made on the airplane. He looks at it then looks at me. "Tara? Our Tara?" "Yeah our Tara. She's in some sort of trouble." "What else is new?" Nate asks as he makes another entrance, looking a bit more human this time. "Hardison, you know we don't have time for this. You're needing to be looking for bank accounts on those guys at SimTech. Hardison looks at me with a sympathetic smile and hands the handwritten list back to me.

I pull the list out of Hardison's hand and turn quickly to face Nate. He recognizes the look on my face and wisely takes a step backwards. My voice is low and deliberate. "Nate.." I start "this is Tara. Our Tara. She's in trouble and she needs us." "And how exactly do you know that?" he asks as he snatches the paper from my hand. He looks it over then looks at me. "What is this Sophie? Where did you get this?" I just stare at him. I know he'll get there eventually. He reads through the list again, this time focusing on the name. Hilton. I knew that would get his attention. He sighs. "Is this true?" I nod. "Damn. Hardison, you better get on this" he says as he hands the paper back.

I nod with satisfaction as Hardison starts typing, his fingers flying almost too fast to see. Nate puts his hand on my arm and pulls me toward the kitchen. "Sophie. I don't know how you know all of this. I probably don't want to. I do want you to know that Tara is part of the family. I, we will do everything we can to help her. OK?" I nod and try to blink away the tears in my eyes. He wraps me up in his arms and whispers in my ear "I know she's your friend and you don't have many of those. I mean it. She's going to be OK." I hold on to him tight, wanting to believe him, hoping that Hardison can sort through the little information I gave him.

I've been stalking the apartment, pacing, looking over Hardison's shoulder all morning. Finally both he and Nate tell me to go home (or something to that effect). Hardison promises me that he will call as soon as he finds anything.

Things are not much better at home. I spend half my time staring at my phone, willing it to ring, and the other half cursing Hardison, Tara, Nate and everyone else.

Late in the afternoon, the phone finally rings. I launch myself off the couch and snatch it off the table in front of me. I'm hoping its Tara but I will settle for Hardison. "Sophie, come back by the office. I think I've got something."

I rush to the office to find Hardison still hard at work on his computer, a stack of papers spread out next to him and more random images on the big screen. Right in the middle of the screen is a picture of Tara. I stare at the image. I feel like I can't breathe. So many things are running through my mind but the loudest voice is the once screaming 'she's gone!'

Nate, Parker and Eliot are watching me carefully. I look at Eliot and I can see that he can hear what I'm thinking. I can hear his thoughts too. Somebody is hurting his Tara, his family. He is going to find this person and he's going to make this person pay. I give him a smile and a silent 'thank you for understanding'. He nods at me but his scowl never changes.

I turn back to Hardison. "Tell me" I say. He starts flipping images for us to look at. "Ok. Here's what we got. I was able to piece together where she went after she left San Jose. It looks as if she was headed east. I almost lost her in Phoenix. That's where she jumped a plane to Baltimore." A thought occurs to me. "Hardison, can anyone else tail her?" I ask with horror in my voice. He gives me a look. "Nah. You know no one else do what I do." Parker pipes in. "He's right. No one do what he do." "Thank you!" he says pointing to Parker. "Now, here, in Balitmore, she's in another car under another name. I know this cuz I was able to pull video of all the car rentals in the Baltimore airport." Another image comes up on the screen. Its black and white and very grainy but the woman at the counter is unmistakable. My heart skips a beat. I glance around to see if anyone else noticed my reaction to seeing Tara on the screen. Nate and Parker are just staring at it. Eliot give me another knowing look. I look away quickly and my eyes go back to the figure on the screen.

"OK. Baltimore." I say. "Why Baltimore?" Nate has the answer for that one. "Washington. DC. Government." "Mmm hmm. Mmm hmm." Hardison agrees. "Though I can't seem to find any trace of here in DC." "That's cuz you're looking in the wrong direction" Parker pipes in. We all look at her. She looks around at all of us with that infuriating blank look on her face. "Parker!" She looks at me. "Why is Washington the wrong direction?" I can see her wanting to give me a resounding 'Duh!' but she fights it. "She's going to Quantico." We are all still staring at her. "She worked for the FBI. Remember?" I'm stunned. I didn't remember. She's mentioned Quantico but never specifically working for the FBI. "Right right." Nate says. "I remember now. Code breaking right?" I shake my head. I didn't know that. There seems to be a lot about Tara I don't know.

I look at Hardison who is typing frantically. "Gimme a few here but I think Parker is right." A smug smile comes to Parker's face. "OK OK. I got something. Someone put gas in her rental car in the town of Quantico which is an actual city near the Marine Base Quantico which is where the FBI Academy…" I cut him off with a wave of my hand. "Someone?" "Yeah. I'm looking for video but ain't nothing hooked to the net." Nate puts in his two cents. "I think we can safely assume that is Tara in the rental car and that she is definitely headed towards the base."

Nate continues. "And if she's in trouble, she can't find any place safer than among a bunch of Marines. Unless she comes here" he adds. "Yeah" Hardison agrees. "I'll keep an eye out but for now I'm going to work on the Hilton connection and find out who put together this dastardly deed." He continues, "This is going to take a while. Y'all should go out to dinner or something. Just bring me a crème brulee when y'alls done."

Everyone else gets up to go but I am still standing still, staring at the screen. The large photo of Tara is still up on it along with a map of connecting dots, the grainy image from the airport and snips of receipts and other things that Hardison uncovered. He sees me staring and gets up off his stool. He puts his arms around me and I step into him and bury my face in his shoulder. "It's going to be OK Sophie. I promise. Alec is here." I sniff as I start to let him go but he's not done. "And Sophie, Nate may be the White Knight but he ain't no match for The Red Queen."

He lets me go and heads toward the kitchen for more orange soda. I'm left standing in the middle of the room, my mouth hanging open.


End file.
